The Land Registry portal has been enhanced to give users more options when managing applications and give clearer timescales.
The Land Registry said based on customer feedback, it changed the way it calculated the estimated completion date shown on the portal. It said this was now more accurate to “enable greater clarity and understanding of when a submitted application will be completed”.
The date displayed in the portal will now be more specific to the application type submitted.
This follows an update from Land Registry in January, where it gave lenders access to its application data and shared the status of cases. The department said this would stop lenders from having to chase conveyancers for updates.
The recent developments also include improved filters so customers can see where Land Registry has requested more information on an application.
It will also give a warning to show where these requests have been left unfulfilled and if applications are at risk of cancellation as a result.
The Land Registry has increased the file size limit from 20mb to 40mb for uploads, which should allow for more flexibility.
There is now an ‘in submission’ status for Digital Registration Service applications, which will indicate which applications are taking longer to submit.
At the end of last year, Land Registry admitted that more complex property registrations were taking up to two years to complete.
According to data from the department, as of June this year, 63.1% of complex changes and new entries were taking more than a year to process.
Some 35% of changes to existing registered titles took longer than a month, while 39.2% were delivered in a day.
The Land Registry said it had increased its caseworker resource by around 1,000 in the last few years, including more than 500 extra staff in the last two years.
It said: “We believe improvements can only be delivered through a combination of recruitment and training as well as automation. At the moment, 29% of our applications to change the register are automated.”
Shekina is the deputy editor at Mortgage Solutions and commercial editor at Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions. She has nearly eight years of experience in the B2B publishing market, having previously covered the hospitality, retail, pet, accounting and jewellery sectors.
Shekina has worked for Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions for almost five years. Here, she covers the market’s breaking news stories, engages with professionals in the sector, and oversees any commercially agreed content in partnership with mortgage-related companies.
This includes presenting webinars and hosting roundtable discussions on developing themes in the mortgage sector.
She is an NCTJ-trained journalist and was nominated for the Headline Money Awards Mortgage Journalist of the Year in 2021.
In her spare time, Shekina likes to read, travel, listen to music and socialise with friends.
She currently reports on current events in the mortgage market and liaises with financial clients to produce sponsored content.
Follow her on Twitter at @ShekinaMS
